A single course of topical fluorouracil can prevent the occurrence of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma requiring surgery in the first year after use, trial results suggest.

End-of-study findings from the GIM2 trial indicate that adjuvant anthracyclines plus taxane chemotherapy for high-risk early breast cancer should be given in a dose-dense regimen and should not include fluorouracil.

This was significantly higher than the 73.3% rate observed among the 744 participants who instead received three cycles of docetaxel followed by three cycles of cyclophosphamide, epirubicin, and fluorouracil, and equated to a “statistically significant, but modest” 19% reduction in the risk for death with capecitabine, report the researchers.

Initially, the patients were randomly assigned to receive adjuvant chemotherapy with three cycles of fluorouracil, epirubicin, and cyclophosphamide followed by three cycles of docetaxel with or without gemcitabine.

The 397 patients with stage IIA–III disease recruited to the open-label, phase 2 cardiac safety study were assigned by physician’s choice to receive one of the neoadjuvant treatment regimens outlined below: four cycles of dose-dense doxorubicin plus cyclophosphamide (AC) followed by 12 cycles of weekly paclitaxel alongside four cycles of concurrent pertuzumab–trastuzumab every 3 weeks; four cycles of 5-fluorouracil, epirubicin, and cyclophosphamide (FEC) every 3 weeks followed by four cycles of docetaxel alongside four cycles of concurrent pertuzumab–trastuzumab every 3 weeks.

This was significantly higher than the 80.3% rate for their 322 counterparts who instead received three cycles of cyclophosphamide 500 mg/m 2 , epirubicin 100 mg/m 2 , and fluorouracil 500 mg/m 2 every 3 weeks followed by three cycles of 3-weekly docetaxel 100 mg/m 2 , and equated to a hazard ratio (HR) of 0.65 favoring the platinum-based regimen.

The team analyzed data from the 1346 normal-weight (BMI ≥18.5 and <25 kg/m 2 ), 951 overweight (≥25 and <30 kg/m 2 ), and 542 obese (≥30 kg/m 2 ) participants of the BIG 2-98 trial that investigated the sequential or concurrent addition of docetaxel to adjuvant doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and fluorouracil for clinical stage T1–T3 disease with at least one positive lymph node.

This DFS rate was significantly higher than the 80.4% rate for the 288 participants who instead received three cycles of docetaxel followed by three cycles of fluorouracil 500 mg/m 2 given on day 1 alongside the same doses of epirubicin and cyclophosphamide, and equated to a hazard ratio (HR) for a disease event or death of 0.66 in favor of the capecitabine combination.

Women have an increased risk for adverse events associated with fluorouracil-based chemotherapy for colorectal cancer, suggests an analysis of the PETACC-3 trial.

Perioperative docetaxel, oxaliplatin, and 5-fluorouracil/leucovorin treatment should be a new standard of care for patients with operable adenocarcinoma of the stomach or gastroesophageal junction, say the FLOT4-AIO trial investigators.

The patients received eight cycles of FOLFIRINOX (fluorouracil, irinotecan, and oxaliplatin) followed by short-course chemoradiotherapy (25.0 Gy in five fractions with protons or 30.0 Gy in 10 fractions with photons) with capecitabine for patients with resolution of vascular involvement upon restaging (n=27) or by long-course chemoradiotherapy (50.4 GY in 28 fractions) with fluorouracil or capecitabine for those with persistent vascular involvement (n=17).

Trazimera may also be used for HER2-positive early breast cancer as a neoadjuvant or adjuvant therapy in combination with chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy, and for previously untreated patients with HER2-positive metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer alongside capecitabine or 5-fluorouracil and cisplatin chemotherapy.

HIPEC consisted of intraperitoneal oxaliplatin given at a dose of 460 mg/m 2 (360 mg/m 2 for closed procedures) over a 30-minute period together with intravenous folinic acid 20 mg/m 2 and fluorouracil 400 mg/m 2 .

Participants were randomly assigned to receive mFOLFIRINOX – comprising fluorouracil 2.4 mg/m 2 over 46 hours, oxaliplatin 85 mg/m 2 , leucovorin 400 mg/m 2 plus irinotecan 150–180 mg/m 2 – every 2 weeks for up to 12 cycles, or gemcitabine at a dose of 1000 mg/m 2 every 3 or 4 weeks for a maximum of six cycles.

The TNT strategy of giving induction fluorouracil- and oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy plus CRT before surgery achieved significantly higher average doses of both these agents and fewer dose reductions than the conventional regimen.

Overall, 136 (70.5%) of 193 patients (mean age 64 years, 49.7% women) with borderline resectable or locally advanced pancreatic cancer underwent resection following neoadjuvant therapy, typically with fluorouracil, irinotecan, oxaliplatin, leucovorin, and folic acid (64.2%).

The idea behind the IDEA (International Duration Evaluation of Adjuvant Therapy) collaboration was to pool together data from six clinical trials to establish the noninferiority of 3 months of FOLFOX (fluorouracil, leucovorin and oxaliplatin) or CAPOX (capecitabine plus oxaliplatin) adjuvant chemotherapy versus a 6-month regimen.

The patients were randomly assigned to receive treatment with mXELIRI (capecitabine plus irinotecan; n=326) or FOLFIRI (leucovorin, fluorouracil, and irinotecan; n=324), with approximately 83% in each group also being treated with concurrent bevacizumab.

The agent is the first biosimilar to be approved in the oncology setting in the USA, and can be used for the following indications: First- or second-line treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC); to be given alongside 5-fluorouracil-based chemotherapy.

In the current study, Francisco Esteva (New York University Langone Medical Center, USA) and colleagues randomly assigned 549 women with stage I–IIIa operable HER2-positive breast cancer to receive eight 3-week cycles of neoadjuvant CT-P6 or reference trastuzumab intravenously (8 mg/kg on day 1 of cycle 1 and 6 mg/kg on day 1 of cycles 2–8) in conjunction with neoadjuvant docetaxel (75 mg/m 2 on day 1 of cycles 1–4) and FEC (fluorouracil 500 mg/m 2 , epirubicin 75 mg/m 2 , and cyclophosphamide 500 mg/m 2 ; day 1 of cycles 5–8) therapy.